The Apple HomePod reviews are here!

February 8, 2018

Transcript

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What's up?
Brian Tong here, and welcome to the Apple Byte for everything good or bad inside the world of Apple.
Let's get to it, and the HomePod reviews are in And the reviews are very positive when talking about the sound quality.
It's exactly what Apple said they were going to do and they delivered with C Net's Megan Woolerton calling it's sound outstanding across all genres of music.
Now The HomePod also easily outperforms the Echo, Google Home, the Google Max and Sonos 1 but, like we expected, it's still the dumbest smart speaker.
Like Siri on the HomePod can't even do the same things as Siri on your Your iPhone and you still can't set multiple timers, so that's a deal breaker for a home chef like me.
Yeah I know it's still extremely limited, but this may as well be a product made exclusively for Apple's ecosystem.
There is no Bluetooth music streaming support whatsoever from any non-iPhone, nada.
Again, overall reviews are very high on its sound quality just like we thought it would be, but that's about it.
And I'll be dropping my full in-depth review next week again because, again, I buy my own stuff.
Now, we've also learned that stereo sound with two home pods will be officially called Full Room.
And it better be full room if you're dropping $700, you heard?
Now you'll also be able to select the left channel speaker from the right, and according to tech crunch, it'll be coming soon even before AirPlay 2 and Apple's promised multi-room capabilities.
All right, and iPhone news [INAUDIBLE] reports, Apple is considering Offering rebates to customers who previously purchased full-price iPhone batteries before iPhone revealed he was slowing down all the devices.
Apple says, we are exploring this and will update you accordingly.
So we'll wait and see.
The big A also dropped the second betas from macOS High Sierra, tvOS 11.3, and the second betas, well, for iOS 11.3.
This new iOS beta introduces the battery health feature for the first time.
It's Tells you the maximum capacity of your battery and whether or not it's operating a peak capacity.
Now if your battery is operating at full capacity, you won't have the option to turn off the throttling feature that causes degraded batteries to run more slowly.
Now Apple also says the iPhone 8, iPhone 8+, and iPhone 10 use a more advanced hardware and software design and uses a different performance management system that will be less noticeable on these three iPhones.
And this story is something that we've got to keep an eye on.
The Financial Times is highlighting a growing issue with some iPhone X users that say they are unable to answer phone calls with their X because the display won't wake up when it's ringing and they can't access the accept and decline buttons.
It's unclear if it's software.
Or hardware related, but restoring the phone hasn't made a difference.
And in a follow up to Apple's earnings report from last week, research firm Canalys estimates Apple Watch shipments topped an all-time high of 18 million units in 2017.
Apple never reveals sales numbers of their own, unless they're worth bragging about.
But CEO Tim Cook said Apple Watch had over a 50% growth in units and revenue And that's what happens when you get a product right, with right hardware and software, you know, I'm all in on the series 3.
And speaking of great software, you don't have to wait for Apple to release a podcast app of their own, if you're like me and you wanna listen a podcast directly on your Apple watch Series 3, now, check this out, it's called Outcast for Apple Watch, that's a 99 cent, stand alone app just for the watch.
And allows you to directly download your favorite podcast over Wi-Fi or LTE.
[UNKNOWN] Series 3 Apple watch and take them with you on the go.
I'm using it all the time.
And we're gonna break it down for you on a follow-up video, but check it out right now if this is something you're in to.
In iPad news, in another follow-up from their earnings last week, research firm IDC says Apple's Ipad is still the most popular tablet, and outsold Amazon and Samsung combined last year.
That's just beast!
Apple sold a total of 43.8 million iPads last year While Samsung shipped 24.9 million tablets, and Amazon shipped 16.7 million.
Total that up, and the iPad bested them by 2.2 million.
See, being a mathlete.
It is actually cool, and that's a good apple.
Yeah.
Now, we're expecting this new iPad Pro some time this year with slimmer bezels and face id, but what about the Apple pencil?
We know it's going to get some new software features, but a new file Apple patented describes an Apple pencil-like device with Four sensors and some form of motion and orientation sensor that's external to this stylus and could allow it to draw on any flat surface.
Translation for my mom, the Apple pencil could be used without a screen.
Wow Bryan.
That's a good apple.
Yeah!
Sorry, ma this might not even happen yet because it's a plan, but yeah it's cool.
All right, that's gonna do this for the week.
You can email me at the applebyte@cnet.co or tweet me @BRIANTONG, but I probably won't respond because I'm playing Shadow of the Colossus PS4 remake.
So I'll try.
Thanks for watching and we'll catch you next time for another Byte of the Apple.
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